Finding the information you need as a writer shouldn’t be a chore. Luckily, there are plenty of search engines out there that are designed to help you at any stage of the process, from coming up with great ideas to finding a publisher to get your work into print. Both writers still in college and those on their way to professional success will appreciate this list of useful search applications that are great from making writing a little easier and more efficient.
Professional
Find other writers, publishers and ways to market your work through these searchable databases and search engines.
Litscene: Use this search engine to search through thousands of writers and literary projects, and add your own as well.
Thinkers.net: Get a boost in your creativity with some assistance from this site.
PoeWar: Whether you need help with your career or your writing, this site is full of great searchable articles.
Publisher’s Catalogues: Try out this site to search through the catalogs and names of thousands of publishers.
Edit Red: Through this site you can showcase your own work and search through work by others, as well as find helpful FAQ’s on writing.
Writersdock: Search through this site for help with your writing, find jobs and join other writers in discussions.
PoetrySoup: If you want to find some inspirational poetry, this site is a great resource.
Booksie.com: Here, you can search through a wide range of self-published books.
One Stop Write Shop: Use this tool to search through the writings of hundreds of other amateur writers.
Writer’s Cafe: Check out this online writer’s forum to find and share creative works.
Literary Marketplace: Need to know something about the publishing industry? Use this search tool to find the information you need now.
Writing
These helpful tools will help you along in the writing process.
WriteSearch: This search engine focuses exclusively on sites devoted to reading and writing to deliver its results.
Hughes, Kristina – Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England
Jackson, Lee – Daily Life in Victorian London
Mayhew, Henry et al – The London Underworld in the Victorian Period
Mitchell, Sally – Daily Life In Victorian England
Pool, Daniel – What Jane Austin Ate and Charles Dickens Knew
Stevens, Mark – Life in the Victorian Assylum
E V E R Y D A Y L I F E
Popular Names in the Victorian Era
Cassel’s Household Guide (1869) – basically an instruction manual from 1869 telling you how to do everything from making tea to picking a job.
Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management: A Guide to Cookery In All Branches (1907) – Lots of period recipes, plus information for the Mistress, Housekeeper, Cook, Kitchen-maid, Butler, Footman, Coachman, Valet, Upper and under house-maids, Lady’s-maid, Maid-of-all-work, Laundry-maid, Nurse and nurse-maid, Monthly, wet, and sick nurses, etc.
The Victorian Era-Society
Appendix D: English Society in the 1840s
Class Structure of Victorian England
Victorian England Social Hierarchy
Social Restrictions in the Victorian Era
(Excerpts From) Promises Broken: Courtship, Class, and Gender in Victorian England (Regarding Broken Engagements and Premarital Sex)
Five Filthy Things About Victorian England
1841: A window on Victorian Britain
The Demography of Victorian England and Wales
What was life like for children in Victorian London?
Historical Essays: The Victorian Child
The Life of Infants and Children in Victorian London
The Inequality Between Genders During the Victorian Era in England
Women as “the Sex” During the Victorian Era
Writers Dreamtools – Decades – 1840
Victorianisms – Adventures in Victorian Slang
56 Delightful Victorian Slang Terms You Should Be Using
A Dictionary of modern slang, cant and vulgar words (1859)
Victorian slang – a guide to sexual Victorian terms
A Glossary of Provincial and Local Words Used in England: To which is Now First Incorporated the Supplement, by Samuel Pegge (1839)
Anecdotes of the English Language: Chiefly Regarding the Local Dialect of London and Its Environs (1844)
British Slang – Lower Class and Underworld
Lee Jackson – Dictionary of Victorian London
Domestic Violence in Victorian England
The Victorian wife-beating epidemic
How to Survive and Thrive in the Victorian Era
19th-century Radiators and Heating Systems
The Picture of Dorian Gray; a mirror of the Victorian Era, era of Hypocrisy
The Victorian Supernatural
Politics of Victorian England
Dualism & Dualities – The Victorian Age
Black Victorians: History we’ve been taught claims we’ve only ever been slaves
Video: Mini-lecture – London’s Black history
Flowers – Victorian Bazaar (The Language Of Flowers)
Victorian Funeral Customs and Superstitions
Racism and Anti-Irish Prejudice in Victorian England
M E D I C I N E & I L L N E S S
Victorian Health
Medical Developments In Britain During The Nineteenth Century
Hospitals
The Entire Case Records from a Victorian Asylum Are Now Online
Victorian psychiatric patients’ grim fate in hellish 1800s hospitals
Locating Convalescence in Victorian England
Sanitation and Disease in Rich and Poor
19th Century Diseases
Death & Childhood in Victorian England
Health and hygiene in the 19th century
Disease in the Victorian city: extended version
Musing on Illness in the Victorian Era
Female hysteria / Vapours
Sent to the asylum: The Victorian women locked up because they were suffering from stress, post natal depression and anxiety
The History of Women’s Mental Illness
Anorexia: It’s Not A New Disease
Rebel Girls: How Victorian Girls Used Anorexia to Conform and Revolt
Warburg’s tincture
Apothecaries and Medicine in the Victorian Era
The Creepy Factor in Victorian Medicine
Medical Advancements: Victorian Era Prosthetics
The Victorian Anti-Vaccination Movement
food poisoning in the Victorian era
Typhus (Gaol Fever)
L A W , G O V E R N M E N T & C R I M E
Crime in Victorian England
The 222 Victorian crimes that would get a man hanged
Juvenile crime in the 19th century
Victorian women criminals’ records show harsh justice of 19th century
Organised Crime in “The Mysteries of London” (1844)
Dickens and the ‘Criminal Class’
Victorian prisons and punishments
Victorian Prison Conditions
The Development of a Police Force
Life in Nineteenth-Century Prisons as a Context for Great Expectations
Gaols
Sentences and Punishments
Courtroom Experience in Victorian England at the time of Great Expectations
Courts of Justice – Victorian Crime and Punishment
Victorian Criminal Laws: Barbarism and Progress
Child prisoners in Victorian times and the heroes of change
Victorian Legislation: a Timeline
Women and the Law in Victorian England
The Corn Laws
The Corn Laws in Victorian England
The Anti-Corn-Law League
The Corn Laws and their Repeal 1815-1846
The Poor Laws During the Victorian Era
Private Property and Abuse of Rights in Victorian England
Bastardy and Baby Farming in Victorian England
Baby Farmers and Angelmakers: Childcare in 19th Century
C L I M A T E , W E A T H E R & E N V I R O N M E N T
The Climate of London (Luke Howard, 1810-1820 – PDF)
The Illustrated London Almanack 1847
Victorian London – Weather – Fog
F A S H I O N
Victorian Fashion Terms A-M
Victorian Fashion Terms N-Z
Early Victorian Undergarments; an introduction, and about silk
Early Victorian Undergarments; Part 1
Early Victorian Undergarments; Part 2
Early Victorian Undergarments; Part 3
1830s-1840s Underpinnings
A Look at an Original 1840s Corded Petticoat
Lingerie Guide : Crinoline – Petticoat
1840s Stays
Exploring the Myths of Corsets I
Exploring the Myths of Corsets II
How to Dress a Victorian Lady
Pre-Hoop Era 1840-1855
1840s Fashion (Pinterest Board)
1840-1848 – Early Victorian
(Pinterest Board)
1840’s fashion
(Pinterest Board)
1840’s fashion: men
(Pinterest Board)
1840s Fashion
(Pinterest Board)
1840s Fashion (Nineteenth Century)
(Pinterest Board)
1840’s fashion (Pinterest Board)
Mourning Dress During the Early Victorian Era
Victoriana Magazine’s Victorian Fashion
Early Victorian Women’s Hats; Part 1, concerning bonnets
Early Victorian Women’s Hats; Part 2, for sun & riding
Early Victorian Women’s Hats; Part 3, wear whatever you like
Empire of Shadows – Clothing (Includes very basic information about upper & lower class fashion, military uniforms & undergarments)
Women’s Costume – Dickens Fair
Victorian Prudes and their Bizarre Beachside Bathing
Victorian Feminine Ideal; about the perfect silhouette, hygiene, grooming, & body sculpting
Fatal Victorian Fashion and the Allure of the Poison Garment
1840’s Men’s Fashion
Gentlemen |
Early & Mid Victorian Era: A Universal Uniform
T R A N S P O R T A T I O N
Public transport in Victorian London: Part One: Overground
Victorian Public Transport: The Omnibus
Omnibus
THE HANSOM CAB – A Visitor’s Guide to Victorian England
“Growler” and the Handsome Hansom
Regency Travel (Earlier than the Victorian era, but still relevant for the earlier years)
A Regency Era Carriage Primer
The Victorian Thames – River Thames Society [PDF]
Nineteenth-Century Ships, Boats, and Naval Architecture (dozens of links to relevant articles)
Early Victorian Rail Travel
Catching a Train in the Early 1840s
HORSES: Matching a Team — Color is Only the Beginning
M O N E Y A N D F I N A N C E S
British Currency During The Victorian Era
Victorian Economics: An Overview
Wages, the Cost of Living, Contemporary Equivalents to Victorian Money
Victorian Economics: a Sitemap
The Cost of Living in 1888
Pride and Prejudice Economics: Or Why a Single Man with a Fortune of £4,000 Per Year is a Desirable Husband
The Price of Bread: Poverty, Purchasing Power, and The Victorian Laborer’s Standard of Living
How a weekly grocery shop would have cost £1,254 in 1862
Costs of dying in Victorian and Edwardian England
18th Century Wages (Earlier than the Victorian era, but good reference)
Cost of Items 18th Century
(Also earlier than the Victorian era, but good reference)
F O O D (A N D L A C K T H E R E OF)
Victorian Dining
The Victorian Pantry, Authentic Vintage Recipies
Victorian cooking: upperclass dinner
For Rich or Poor: Creepy Victorian Food
Victorian History: A Fast Food Generation
10 Weird Foods Sold By Victorian Street Vendors
Victorian Food For The Rich & Poor Children
Dictionary of Victorian London – Food
The Lost World of the London Coffeehouse
Victorian England: a nation of coffee drinkers
London Life: Victorian Coffee Sellers
Victorian street food imagined
What the Poor Ate
Adulteration and Contamination of Food in Victorian England
Workhouse Food
An Overview of food in 19th Century Gaols
Food and Famine in Victorian Literature
Milk teeth of Irish famine’s youngest victims reveal secrets of malnutrition
D R U G S & D R I N K
The Temperance Movement and Class Struggle in Victorian England
Gin Palaces – The Victorian Dictionary
Alcohol and Alcoholism in Victorian England
Drugs in Victorian Britain
Cannabis Britannica: The rise and demise of a Victorian wonder-drug
Laudanum Use in the 19th Century
Victorian Women on Drugs, Part 1: Queen Victoria
Victorian Women on Drugs, Part 2: Female Writers
Substance Abuse in the Victorian Era
Opium Dens and Opium Usage in Victorian England
Chinese Opium Trade; as it was in the mid 1800s
Poetry, Pain, and Opium in Victorian England
L E I S U R E & E N T E R T A I N M E N T
Victorian Entertainments: We Are Amused
Entertainment in Victorian London
Leisure, An Extensive study of the Victorian Era
Vauxhall Gardens | Jane Austen’s World
Theatre – Victorian Era 1837-1901
Almack’s Assembly Rooms
The Cannibal Club: Racism and Rabble-Rousing in Victorian England
Restaurants – The Victorian Dictionary
The Story of Music Hall
Sex, Drugs and Music Hall
Victorian and Edwardian Public Houses (List, links to relevant articles about each listed pub)
Victorian London Taverns, Inns and Public Houses
Gambling in Historic England
Gambling in London’s Most Ruinous Gentlemen’s Clubs
Victorian Sport: Playing by the Rules
Seven singular sports from the Victorian era
Penny Dreadfuls; the Victorian era adventures for the masses
Victorian Violence, Part Four ~ Elegant Brutality for Ladies and Gentlemen of Discernment
10 Deadly Street Gangs Of The Victorian Era
Early Victorian Handguns; Part 1
Early Victorian Handguns; Part 2
Early Victorian Handguns; Part 3
Pistol Duelling during the Early Victorian Era
Cane Guns: Victorian Concealed Firearms of Gentlemen & Cads
M A N N E R S & E T T I Q U E T T E
Manners & Tone of Good Society (This is a Victorian book on manners, written by an unnamed ‘Member Of The Aristocracy,’ and is available in full to read and covers a ton of ground, everything from leaving cards and morning calls to introductions and titles, and etiquette for many different types of parties and events).
The Ladies’ Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness: A Complete Hand Book for the Use of the Lady in Polite Society (1875)
Manners for the Victorian Gentleman
Victorian Dancing Etiquette
A Checklist of 19th Century Etiquette
Social Rituals During The Victorian Era
An Online Dating Guide to Courting in the Victorian Era
Calling Cards and the Etiquette of Paying Calls
Morning Calls and Formal Visits
A Time Traveller’s Guide to Victorian Era Tea Etiquette
Traveling Etiquette and Tips for Victorian Women
Equestrian Etiquette and Attire in the Victorian Era
Etiquette Faux Pas and Other Misconceptions About Afternoon Tea
Victorian Table Etiquette
Victorian London – Publications – Etiquette and Household Advice Manuals
Etiquette Rules for Dinner Parties from a Victorian Magazine
The Etiquette of Proper Introductions in Victorian Times
Forms Of Introductions And Salutations. Etiquette Of Introductions
Etiquette for the Victorian Child
Victorian and Edwardian Mourning Etiquette
Etiquette Of Carriage-Riding
Victorian Etiquette – Shopping
U P P E R C L A S S & N O B I L I T Y
Royalty, Nobility, Gentry, & Titles; A Matter of Victorian Ranks & Precedence
Order of Precedence in England and Wales
The Victorian Era – The Debutante Tradition
The Gentleman – The Victorian Web
“Coming Out” During the Early Victorian Era; about debutantes
The London Season
The London Season – The History Box
T H E M I D D L E C L A S S
The middle classes: etiquette and upward mobility
The Rise of the Victorian Middle Class
The Victorian Man and the Middle Class Household – Domesticity as an Ideal
Middle Class Life in the Late 19th Century
A Woman
’s World: How Afternoon Tea Defined
and Hindered Victorian Middle Class Women
Working Women in the Victorian Middle-Class
The ASBO teens of Victorian Britain: How middle-class children terrorized parks by shouting at old ladies, chasing sheep and vandalizing trees
“A Dangerous Kind:” Domestic Violence and The Victorian Middle Class [PDF]
Eligible Bachelors: Suitors and Courtship in the Lower Middle Class
T H E W O R K I N G C L A S S
The working classes and the poor
Poverty and the working classes (links to relevant articles)
Dirty Jobs of the Victorian Era …
The Working-Class Peace Movement
in Victorian England
Victorian Child Labor and the Conditions They Worked In
History of Working Class Mothers in Victorian England
Income vs Expenditure in Working-Class Victorian England
What about the Workers? – 1830s – 1840s
T H E S E R V A N T C L A S S
Household management and Servants of the Victorian Era
Victorian Domestic Servant Hierarchy and Wages
Domestic Servants
Serving the house: The cost of Victorian domestic servants
Domestic Servants and their Duties
Precedence in the Servants Hall
The Servant’s Quarters in 19th Century Country Houses Like Downton Abbey
The REAL story of Britain’s servant class
Servants: A life below stairs
The Green Baize Door: Dividing Line Between Servant and Master
The Victorian Domestic Servant by Trevor May: A Review
T H E U N D E R C L A S S (T H E P O O R)
The Underclass (or the Submerged Class)
Poverty in Victorian England: Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist
Down and Out in Victorian London
Poverty and the Poor | Dickens & the Victorian City
The Victorian Poorhouse
Poorhouses
Victorian Workhouses
Entering and Leaving the Workhouse
The Poor Law
The Poor Law Amendment Act
The New Poor Law – Victorian Crime and Punishment
London’s Ragamuffins
I N T E R S E C T I O N A L I T Y (Of Class, Gender, Race, and Ability)
Class, Gender, and the Asylum
The Impact of Social Class Divisions on the Women of Victorian England
The Daily Life of Disabled People in Victorian England
W O R K &
Early and Mid-Victorian Attitudes towards Victorian
Working-Class Prostitution, with a Special Focus on
London
Prostitution and the Nineteenth Century: In Search of the ‘Great Social Evil’
Attitudes toward sexuality and sexual identity
Victorian slang – a guide to sexual Victorian terms
O T H E R M A S T E R P O S T S
Writing Research – Victorian Era by ghostflowerdreams
How to Roleplay in the Victorian Era by keir-reviews
Legit’s Historical Fashion Masterpost by legit-writing-tips
Susanna Ives – Many Research Links (covers Regency Era – Victorian Era)
So, pretty frequently writers screw up when they write about injuries. People are clonked over the head, pass out for hours, and wake up with just a headache… Eragon breaks his wrist and it’s just fine within days… Wounds heal with nary a scar, ever…
I’m aiming to fix that.
Here are over 100 links covering just about every facet of traumatic injuries (physical, psychological, long-term), focusing mainly on burns, concussions, fractures, and lacerations. Now you can beat up your characters properly!
Wound assessment: A huge amount of information, including what the color of the flesh indicates, different kinds of things that ooze from a wound, and so much more.
Location pain chart: Originally intended for tattoo pain, but pretty accurate for cuts
General note: Deeper=more serious. Elevate wounded limb so that gravity draws blood towards heart. Scalp wounds also bleed a lot but tend to be superficial. If it’s dirty, risk infection. If it hits the digestive system and you don’t die immediately, infection’ll probably kill you. Don’t forget the possibility of tetanus! If a wound is positioned such that movement would cause the wound to gape open (i.e. horizontally across the knee) it’s harder to keep it closed and may take longer for it to heal.
General notes: If it’s a compound fracture (bone poking through) good luck fixing it on your own. If the bone is in multiple pieces, surgery is necessary to fix it–probably can’t reduce (“set”) it from the outside. Older people heal more slowly. It’s possible for bones to “heal” crooked and cause long-term problems and joint pain. Consider damage to nearby nerves, muscle, and blood vessels.
General notes: If you pass out, even for a few seconds, it’s serious. If you have multiple concussions over a lifetime, they will be progressively more serious. Symptoms can linger for a long time.
Dislocations: Symptoms 1, 2; treatment. General notes: Repeated dislocations of same joint may lead to permanent tissue damage and may cause or be symptomatic of weakened ligaments. Docs recommend against trying to reduce (put back) dislocated joint on your own, though information about how to do it is easily found online.
Heterosexual: Male-identifying individual sexually attracted to a female-identifying individual, and vice-versa.
Homosexual: Someone attracted to someone of the same gender as themselves.
Bisexual: Sexually attracted to two or more genders.
Polysexual: Sexually attracted to many genders, but not all.
Pansexual: Sexually attracted to all genders. (this and bisexual, and sometimes polysexual, are often considered to be the same thing and different people may simply identify as any one of them due to their own personal reasons)
Demisexual: Sexually attracted to people only after forming a bond with them first.
Asexual: Having no /sexual attraction/ to others; having no desire to have sex.
Heteroromantic: Male-identifying individual romantically attracted to female-identifying individuals, and vice-versa.
Homoromantic: Attracted romantically to the same gender.
Biromantic: Attracted romantically to two or more genders
Polyromantic: Attracted to many genders (but not all)
Panromantic: Attracted romantically to all genders
Demiromantic: Romantically attracted to people only after forming a bond with them first.
Aromantic: Having no /romantic attraction/ to others; having no desire to be in a romantic relationship.
Polyamorous: Someone who is attracted to, and is comfortable with being in a relationship with more than one person at a time.
Akoiromantic/Lithromantic: Someone who experiences romantic attraction, but doesn’t wish to act upon it or for it to be reciprocated.
Transexual/Transgender (Term depending on generation and location): An individual who identifies as a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth to be. Often shortened to trans
Cisgender: Someone who identifies as the gender that they were assigned as at birth. (ex. matches their birth certificate) Often shortened to cis
Intersex: Someone who has ambiguous genitalia that doesn’t fit into our strict dichotomy of uterus or testes. Often forced into surgery to correct their genitals at a very young age, causing psychological and physical harm later in life
Nonbinary: Outside of the gender binary of male and female. (Can be used as an umbrella term or as its own identity)
Genderqueer: Outside of the gender binary. (**This is not an umbrella term like the post said before I edited it! Do not use this as an umbrella term for nonbinary individuals, simply use ‘nonbinary’. Queer is considered a slur and not everyone likes to be associated with the word)
Agender: Someone who feels gender neutral, or someone who experiences a ‘lack’ of gender.
Bigender: Someone who identifies as two separate genders.
Trigender: Someone who identifies as three separate genders.
Genderfluid: A gender that changes, or is ‘fluid’.
Demigirl: Identifying partially as a woman, but not wholly.
Demiboy/guy: Identifying partially as a man, but not wholly.
Dmab: Designated Male at Birth.
Dfab: Designated Female at Birth.
Amab/Afab: Same as dmab/dmab, except with ‘assigned’ instead of ‘designated’.
Camab/Cafab: Same as previous, except prefixed by ‘coercively’, to highlight the lack of choice.
Reblog to inform! And if there’s any I missed or anything that should be clarified, please message me! Always looking to expand the proper vocab.
**I edited this post because it used some archaic and incorrect terms/definitions, and needed more terms added to it. -Vivian Mareepe